All of thisthe Sanghconglomeratehas imbibed fromthe
U.S.,withthree differences:outrighthysteriais much
morethe normin virtuallyall the TV channels in India;
sources of the moneythatwentintothe oilingof the BJP
machineryin 2019weremoreopaquewhilethe amounts
wereevengreaterthanin the U.S.;andthe low-intensity
butunremittingviolencethattheSanghdeploysso
routinely,without fearof judicialreprisal, is far aheadof
Trump’s savageries.
Didthe 2019resultssurprise me?Yes,as did the 2014
results. I am not a student of day-to-dayelectoral politics.
My personalexpectations in anyelectionare shapedvery
muchby estimatesthatI receivefromsources on the Left
andthe liberalLeft.Andyouknowwhatthose estimates
were:narrowmarginson eitherside,possiblya hung
Parliament.OnceI recoveredfromthoseimmediateex-
pectations, I returnedto the verypremisesof my struc-
turalanalysis.
SECULARISM,A MINORITY POSITIONALWAYS
I alwaysemphasisedhowa truecommitment to secular-
ismwasalwaysa minoritypositionin Indiansociety and
politics,howverymuchmoreHinduisedIndian society
has nowbecome,howcommunal violencealwaysleadsto
veryrichelectoraldividends for theBJPandits associ-
ates,howall the keyinstitutionsof the Indianstatewere
gettingerodedandincreasingly servingtheinterestsof
theBJP,includingtheElectionCommissionandthe
higherjudiciary. I hadwritten a moreconceptualessay
on the largertrendsin 2015, in the aftermathof the 2014
elections,whichSocialistRegisterpublishedin 2016.
Thatarticlewasthenreprintedin a coupleof other
places,in Britainas wellas India,andhasnowbeen
reprintedagaininFrontline[“India:LiberalDemocracy
andthe Extreme Right”,June 7, 2019]. Much of what has
happenednowis simplythe intensification of whatI had
thenidentified as majorfeatures of Indian politics.
I hadsaidat thattimethatthe electoraldeclineof the
Congressin onewayandthatof the Leftin anotherwasat
leastas importantas the BJP’smajorityin the LokSabha.
I hadnotedthatModiwasthefirst IndianPrimeMinis-
ter whogainedvirtually totalsupport of the great capital-
ist magnateswellbeforethe electionsgot going,andthat
he hadnot onlyforcedIndianpoliticsto go presidential,
on theAmericanmodelbutspentroughlythesameMODIWITHU.S.PRESIDENTDonaldTrump.The
escalatinghysteria aboutcitizensandnon-citizensis a
carboncopyof Trump’sracist,virtuallygenocidalpolicies
towardSouthAmerican refugeescrossing intotheU.S.KEVINLAMARQUE/REUTERS